. ♪ >> i want to introduce to you the gentleman on my right, bob rosencrans, our first chairman, gaveirst seed money to get c-span started in 1977, believe it or not. >> in august 1977, bob rosencrans, president of ua/columbia cable and business partner ken gunter, were the first cable operators to agree to support the idea for c-span. at that time only about 19 percent of american homes were wired for cable. mr. rosencrans, who passed away this week, wrote a check for $25,000. with that seed money, c-span created the infrastructure to send out cable television's first live views of the u.s. house of representatives. on march 19th, 1979, to some 3.5 million homes, served by 350 cable systems. >> let the public understand what goes on in washington, what the issues are and how to deal with them. and i think above all, the mission here at c-span has been just that. and we're very proud of that. >> mr. rosencrans steered the non-profit network through its initial challenging years and continued to serve on c-span's board of directors until his death most recently in the role of chairman

bob rosencrans wrote a check for $25,000.ut seed money, c-span created the infrastructure to send out cable television's first live view's obvious house of representatives on march 19, 1979 to some 3.5 million homes served by 350 cable systems. >> but the public understand what goes on in washington, what the issues are and how to deal with them. and i think above all mission at c-span has been just that, and we're very proud of that. >> bob rosencrans steered the nonprofit through its initial challenging years and continued to serve in c-span's board of directors until his death. most recently in the role of chairman emeritus. spinning to believe that the nation can only benefit from more exposure to our political process, to educate and for our people both young and old, and give us all a bitte better feelg that we are persisting in this process that carries our nation forward. thank you very much. >> q&a continues tonight. q & a airs today an at all this week at 7 p.m. on c-span2. and booktv prime time tonight focuses on a

. >> and august, 1977, bob rosencrans and his business partner with the first cable partners to agreesupport the idea for c-span. at that time, only about 19% of american homes were wired for cable. ns, who passed away this week, wrote a check for $25,000. with that seed money, c-span created the infrastructure to send out cable-television's first live views of the u.s. house of representatives to some three point 5 million homes .erved by 350 cable systems >> let the public understand what goes on in washington, what the issues are and how to deal with them. i think above all, the mission here at c-span has been just that, and we are very proud of that. ns steered thea nonprofit network through its early challenging years and continued to serve the network until his death, most recently in the role of chairman emeritus. >> we believe the nation can only benefit from more exposure to the process, to educate our people both the young and old, and give us all a feeling that we are participating in this process that carries our nation forward. thank you very much. >> tonight, c-span's is

c-span's founding chairman bob rosencrans passed away yesterday at the age of 89. not only was he one of the first cable operators to support the idea of c-span, but he continued to work on our behalf for almost 40 years. here is more now. ♪ ♪ >> i introduce to you the gentleman on my right, bob rosencrans. bob was our first chairman, and the person who threw in the first seed money to get c-span started in 1977, believe it or not. >> in august, 1977, bob rosencrans, then president of columbia cable, and his business partner, where the first cable operators to agree to support the idea for c-span. at that time, only about 19% of american homes were wired for cable. mr. rosencrans, who passed away this week, wrote a check for $25,000. with that seed money, c-span created the infrastructure to send out cable television's first live views of the u.s. house of representatives. on march 19, 1979, to some 3.5 million homes served by 350 cable systems. let the public understand what goes on in washington. what the issues are. how to deal with them. i think, above all, the